It is disappointing that Resident Doctors are on a five-day strike.  Their many rounds of strikes during the previous Conservative Government increased waiting lists for treatments, which had already shot up due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

When in opposition while holding the shadow role, the now Health Secretary Wes Streeting said that he was “beyond furious” at the Conservatives for allowing strikes in the NHS.  He and his Labour colleagues made a huge amount of political capital out of those strikes, and here he now is with his own strike, a taste of his own medicine so to speak.

But it’s worse than that.  Wes Streeting and the Labour Government are responsible for this round of doctor strikes.  When they came into office in July last year, Labour thought they were being smart by falsely claiming there was a ‘£22 billion black hole’ in the public finances that they had inherited from the Conservatives, when of course there wasn’t.

By inventing this ‘£22 billion black hole’, it gave Labour cover to then go about creating their own one.  They then set about wrecking the public finances, claiming it was all the fault of the Conservatives.  Part of this was the award of a 28% pay rise to the Resident Doctors which was one of the biggest public sector pay awards in history. That £2 billion a year giveaway came with no conditions attached to improve outcomes for patients.  No modernisation plans, reforms, or any serious workforce strategy. 

While a case was made that it was good at the time to settle the dispute and Wes Streeting milked that for all he could, it came at a huge cost and with future implications. Other trade unions saw that the Labour Government was a soft touch on pay negotiations and have been flexing their muscles ever since.  Now the Resident Doctors have returned seeking more, in a strike of Labour’s making.  Patients are suffering again and taxpayers will foot the bill again.  This cycle needs to stop, so I welcome Kemi Badenoch’s announcement that a future Conservative Government will ban doctor strikes.

Councillor Duncan Crow, Leader of Crawley Borough Council Conservative Group

30th July 2025